


Gordon's Son

by IRegretNothingAndEverything



Category: Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: Child Death, Joshua is dead pre-fic, talorly stop making me feel things challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:00:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26077594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IRegretNothingAndEverything/pseuds/IRegretNothingAndEverything
Summary: A few weeks after Black Mesa, Bubby suddenly remembers the picture of Joshua in Gordon's locker.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 97





	Gordon's Son

**Author's Note:**

> Talorly on Tungle.Heck, stop making me feel feelings challenge.

It had been a few weeks since Black Mesa, and they had all taken residence inside Gordon’s apartment. There were pictures up around the residence, on the walls and in bookcases to take up more room, and yet it took this long until Bubby looked at one, a snapshot of Gordon and Joshua at the park, Joshua up on Gordon’s shoulders grinning at the person behind the camera. 

“Wait, Gordon has a son, doesn’t he?” He looked back at the group, most of whom was settled on the couch-Benrey was on the floor, but that didn’t count-and they glanced towards him. Coomer nodded slightly. 

“Of course! There are pictures of him everywhere!” 

“He’s very cute.” Tommy said, looking towards Gordon, who smiled softly, almost sadly, looking away. 

“Yeah uh... I'll introduce you. I was gonna go visit today anyways.” He stood, glancing around. “Lemme go get my shoes and I’ll uh... I’ll drive us over there.” 

Gordon disappeared around the corner into his room, and they watched him go, Tommy chewing on his lip. 

“Did Gordon seem upset to anyone else?” Coomer nodded slightly, and, when Tommy glanced down towards Benrey, he let out a few sweet voice bubbles, a confirmation from him. “Is... anyone else also getting a weird feeling about that?” Another round of nods. 

Gordon led them to the car, driving off once they were sure they were all in, Benrey having stolen the front seat despite Gordon trying, not as hard as he usually would, to convince him to let Tommy have that seat. Still, he didn’t fight it too much, nor did he fight when Bubby leaned forwards to put on music, and Bubby sent him a look as he leaned back into his seat, frowning. Gordon always fought him on his music choices. 

The answer became clear as Gordon pulled into a cemetery. He stepped out, and let them chose to follow or not, which, after a moment, they did. He stopped for a moment to get a few flowers, then walked down the rows, turning down one suddenly, as if he had memorized the walk there before. They followed behind quietly, probably a weird assortment of people to be there, but said nothing as Gordon stopped in front of a grave, crouching down to set the flowers on top carefully. 

They sat in silence a moment, moving around Gordon as he sat there, staring at the years of Joshua’s life, barely even having turned six when Gordon had instead found himself needing to pay for a funeral for his son. He sniffled softly, before standing again, smiling down at him. 

“He loved cowboys. His favorite food was cashews, and he really liked it when I put him up on my shoulders so he was tall enough to reach the leaves on the trees at the park. He was a stubborn little kid, but smart as hell, would’ve been able to talk circles around me...” 

“How... how old would he be?” Tommy asked softly, and Gordon smiled. 

“Ten now, almost eleven. Getting close to his birthday, and I like to visit him a bit more often around this time. I usually make time once a week for him, and then visit every day on the weeks around his birthday.” He was crying, but no one said anything for it, Benrey pressing just a bit closer to Gordon’s side, as he looked down at the grave that was far too small. “He uh, he used to always get cupcakes for his birthday, since we didn’t have a lot of people and a kid his size didn’t need that much sugar. He always had two, on in the morning and one in the afternoon, and always wanted to watch Finding Nemo at least three times that day.” 

For a moment, they were silent, before Gordon sniffled softly, rubbing his eyes. 

“Wish we could have seen that.” Coomer said softly, and Bubby made a soft noise in agreement, and Gordon smiled over at him. 

“Yeah... me too. He was a feisty little thing. I’m sure he would have adored you guys.” They fell back into silence, before Gordon crouched down again, carefully balancing a photo on the grave, with him holding Joshua up in his arms, Joshua grinning a huge smile at the camera, cowboy had slightly tilted as if it were going to slip off his head. 

He stood again, sighing lowly, rubbing a hand over his eyes again, and they stood there, pressing against Gordon slightly on all sides, as he began to recount his few years with Joshua.

**Author's Note:**

> *throws two major angst fics at you in one day* Cry mother fucker-


End file.
